CASH MOB: Black on Black Support–ATL
by BlaqKharma · January 20, 2016
Black on Black support is showing signs of life. The Aboriginal American family is mastering mobilization and I absolutely love it.The Black community is finally fed up with everything that is going on. There is so much emotion… It is beautiful to see… I am convinced that Black America still has a pulse. We are the descendants of Hosea, Malcolm, and Huey. I couldn’t be any more proud to be a black woman today fighting for the importance of black life. Growing up, I used to feel as though I was born in the wrong time. I felt like I should have lived during the Roaring Twenties or the1960’s. Now in 2016, I realize how wrong that thought was. There is no time like the present. For a moment I started to think: Is this generation ready for revolution? Have black millennials as a whole really grasped and understand what the word means? I started pondering more on the word “revolution”. What is revolutionary? What is a revolutionary act? I happened to walk right into that on Saturday January 16, 2015. Right there on Auburn Avenue, I learned what Cash mob was.
Simply strolling down good old “Sweet Auburn” I was stopped dead in my tracks. I had to whip my camera out. It was there, right in front of me, that I saw a line of black people almost wrapped around the building. I immediately thought, “I have to find out what is going on.” Fate stepped in and confirmed that I was supposed to be there. I bumped into Jay White –a very well-known spoken word artist, tap dancer, and entrepreneur. He was literally in the street dodging cars working to capture a picture of positive black images, encouragement and love. Cars were also stopping and people riding the belt-line were all looking to see what was going on. BLACK BUSINESS. When I finally asked Jay White what was going on, he replied: “this is a cash mob”. He went on to elaborate on what a cash mob was and pointed me to the organizers of this particular event.
Basically, like a flash mob, a cash mob is a group of individuals who get together on a designated day, pick a black owned business and literally mob the establishment with their support. It doesn’t matter what kind of business it is. It doesn’t even matter what you purchase. The goal is to stimulate black business with support. The black dollar’s potential is limitless.
It is all about getting out of the house and proactively spending your black dollars at black establishments. On this day, the business of choice to be patronized was a local spot called “The Pantry“. The Pantry specializes in all kinds of salads, soups, and sandwiches. The size or cost of the purchase does not matter. Just support. What made this more beautiful was the fact that everyone in line waited patiently. The bigger picture is seen and understood. One thing that we learned in 2015 ,via “Patti Pie” and other countless things, is that the black dollar is dynamite. This particular group (Meet the Mob) waited in the cold and they all purchased something. They also keep records documenting how many black dollars were generated supporting whatever business they choose to mob that day. This is all about growth. This is a revolutionary act. All I knew, when I got up that day and got on the train, was that I wanted to get out the house. I was actually on my way to go and speak at an engagement but what I got was so much more than reciting words. What I got, personally, was renewed faith in the strength of my people. We don’t just dance and shake our asses… All hope is not lost. We are better than protesting backwards via die-in demonstrations. Cash mobs are going on all over. Consider this another new beginning.
